New York Post: Dan Loeb is Short Multi-Level Marketer Nu Skin

According to

, Dan Loeb is short Nu Skin

. Shares of the multi-level marketer dropped nearly 2 percent early on Tuesday. This stands in sharp contrast to Loeb's ownership of Herbalife

shares. Both stocks have traded largely in tandem over the last few months as both companies are multi-level marketers. When Herbalife dipped back in May of last year, Nu Skin fell along with it. As Herbalife shares have rebounded, so have shares of Nu Skin. If Loeb is shorting Nu Skin, he might not believe that all multi-level marketers deserve to be painted with the same broad brush, or he might be using the short to hedge his Herbalife position. After all, if Bill Ackman is successful in his anti-Herbalife crusade, shares of Nu Skin are likely to be crushed. In his

, Loeb made reference to “short A” and “short B” as two of his positions. However, Nu Skin might not be one of those shorts, as Loeb wrote that the two shorts were losers in the quarter ended December 31, 2012. Most Nu Skin short trades would've been profitable over that period of time, as the company's stock dropped precipitously in the second half of December. The New York Post claims that Loeb had begun to sell short Nu Skin back in summer of 2011, so the position is likely not a hedge of his Herbalife long -- a stake Loeb took up within the last month. At any rate, the report is just a further twist in the Herbalife story, which has ensnared such fund managers as Carl Icahn, Bob Chapman, Bill Ackman and Loeb. Shares of Nu Skin traded near $44 on Tuesday, while Herbalife shares sat near $43.70.